Musings of Mudora – I: Why Do We Play Games?

Why do we play games?

I don’t know about you but I play for many reasons. I play to experience something new. To take on a role that’s foreign to my own nature and abilities. I play to accomplish. I play for some entertainment after a long workday. I play for adventure. But what I experience doesn’t just stay in-game. When you turn that final page in your novel or emerge from the darkness of the movie theatre, you’ve had an experience that has in some way affected you. Whether you’ve learned a valuable life lesson or that you hate conniving villains, whether you’re overcome with delight upon witnessing the reunion of lovers or shocked from observing a taboo, you’ve undergone a change. And that change can follow you out of the theatre and onto the bus to work the next day. The point is that you take these things with you.

It’s the same with games. Sure, I play for escapism but I like to return having added something to my arsenal of life assessments. Which brings me to another reason why I play games: I play to learn. That’s right. Even when I’m tranqing guards in Metal Gear, or ripping apart harpies in God of War, I’ve still got my mind open to what’s happening on that flat (42”) screen. Maybe it’s something in the game script or in a single character or in a choice that the game places before you. Although games haven’t emerged in the realm of critical evaluation as much as the novel or film, there is plenty of evidence to show that they can (and should) be heading that way. Why can’t games be a valid form of education, stimulation and inspiration?

All literature, film, performance and music needs an audience in order to be experienced, understood, interpreted and evaluated. They require interaction to function. And interaction is a game’s forte. Although movies and books can attempt to draw you into their worlds, none of them can put you into the shoes of the hero, inside the armor of a galactic bounty hunter, or onto the back of a colossus, like a game can. In the gameworld, you are literally a part of the story. It’s certainly possible that you can learn and feel more in a story where you’re doing as opposed to watching and reading.

However, a problem occurs when games do not seem to be content with being games. Some games follow patterns set up by other mediums -employing movie tropes (the Hollywood blockbuster not always being the best model to follow for a game that actually wants to say something) and striving to be something they’re not. Games should be using their own arsenal of mechanics to tell a story, deliver an experience and in turn, create meaning. This will force us, the audience, to take a harder look at what a game can accomplish in its own unique playing field. At the end of the day books are just words on paper and movies, images on a screen. It’s up to the creative minds to take something basic and turn it into something great. A video game is an interpretation of a reality, and an inspiration for new realities, but by itself, is only a collection of metal circuits through which electricity runs.

That said, I say we take a look at what we’ve been given and analyze some of the creative, terrible, complicated, and downright crazy things present in games today while keeping an eye on the future.